India Successfully Tests the BrahMos Air-launched Cruise Missile

The Indian Air Force (IAF) successfully test-fired the BrahMos-A supersonic cruise missile from a Sukhoi Su-30MKI multirole fighter jet on November 22, 2017. The missile was “gravity dropped,” after which the engine started, propelling the missile towards its target in the Bay of Bengal off India’s eastern coast.

BrahMos was a joint venture between India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyenia (NPOM). According to the India’s Press Information Bureau (PIB), the successful test of the air-launched cruise missile “completes the tactical cruise missile triad,” noting that the missile can now be launched from ground, sea, and air-based platforms. India’s army and navy are already operating ground- and sea-launched variants, and the IAF is likely to receive the first deliveries of the air-launched version in January 2018.

Missile Threat brings together a wide range of information and analyses relating to the proliferation of cruise and ballistic missiles around the world and the air and missile defense systems designed to defeat them. Missile Threat is a product of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

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